The Unclaimed Property Division of the Comptroller of Maryland administers the state's Uniform Disposition of Abandoned Property Act, and its explanation of its own work starts with the simplest description of what is held: mostly, it is money. Unclaimed property comes out of normal business operations, so most businesses have some, with unclaimed wages, commissions and benefit distributions to employees, overpayments by customers and prepayments or refunds due to them making up much of it, while financial institutions, insurers and corporations must also report bank accounts, safe deposit box contents, insurance benefits, security deposits, stock dividends and traveller's checks. The law is custodial, which means the Comptroller takes possession and then tries to find the owner, holding the property until the owner or an heir claims it at no cost.
The division's site reports that more than $264 million has been returned since 2023, and the office measures itself by what goes back out rather than by what sits in the fund. An April 2026 piece published by the state's business service, quoting Comptroller Brooke E. Lierman, put a figure on the effect of the new claim system: since its introduction in October 2025 the office had paid 18,273 claims valued at $33 million. The same article notes what a typical find looks like, often between nothing and $100, though some claims exceed $250, and repeats the national estimate that about one person in seven has money waiting. The division sits at 7 St. Paul Street, Suite 320, Baltimore, and answers holders on 410-767-1700 or 1-800-782-7383 from outside central Maryland. For Maryland records held locally, see the Maryland county pages.
- The wait: the Comptroller asks claimants to allow 60 to 90 business days for a decision before checking the status of a filed claim.
- No deadline: Maryland law is custodial, so there is no statute of limitation and the property can be claimed in the owner's lifetime or by legitimate heirs afterwards.
- Dormancy: three years of inactivity for accounts and uncashed checks, one year for nursing homes, and fifteen years from issue for traveller's checks.
- Holders: October 31 for corporations, public entities and financial institutions on a June 30 period end, April 30 for insurance companies on a December 31 period end.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Maryland's own systems: the Comptroller of Maryland unclaimed property website, the division's what is unclaimed property page, the division's frequently asked questions, the division's holder deadlines page, the division's holder reporting guidelines, the division's self audit program page, the division's voluntary disclosure agreement page, the state business service article on unclaimed money in Maryland, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Four steps, and the wait at the end of them
The Comptroller's unclaimed property site sets the claim out in four steps: start by searching for the property, file by completing the online claim form, provide the documents that support the claim, and then wait for a decision. The last step carries the number worth remembering, because the division says that anyone who has not received a decision within 60 to 90 business days should use the claim status search, which means the ordinary expectation runs to three or four months of working days rather than weeks.
Documents for a claim already filed go through the upload page rather than the post, and the status search takes the claim identifier. The system behind all of that is new. The state's business service reported that the Comptroller launched it in October 2025 to cut red tape, letting users submit documentation electronically, check claim status and see more about the property they are claiming at any hour of the day, and that it had paid out more than 18,000 claims in the months since.
What is in the database, and what never will be
The questions page lists the property types: checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, overpayments, insurance checks, payroll checks, refund checks from utilities and memberships, money orders, uncashed checks, dividends, stocks and bonds, and the contents of a safe deposit box that have monetary value. It then disposes of the question people most often ask, confirming that real estate, boats and cars are not part of the programme.
The dormancy rules are short enough to state in full: an account at a financial institution or a business with no activity, or a check left unclaimed, becomes reportable after three years, nursing homes report after one year, and uncashed traveller's checks are reported fifteen years after the date of issue. Nothing then runs out, because the law is custodial, and the division states that there is no statute of limitation, so the property may be claimed at any time during the owner's lifetime or by legitimate heirs after the owner dies.
How the Comptroller looks for owners
Maryland's outreach has a rhythm to it. The office advertises annually in newspapers, posts postcards to apparent owners every quarter, and takes the division to community events, county events and the Maryland state fair, and it publishes a picture of the postcard it sends so that recipients can tell the real thing from an imitation. It also takes part in the national search site, so a Maryland record shows up for someone searching several states at once, and it maintains exchange agreements with other states and the District of Columbia, which matters for anyone who has moved across the Washington area and may have property recorded on the wrong side of a boundary.
Businesses are specifically told to look: the division says a substantial proportion of the unclaimed funds belong to businesses and advises them to check the search page periodically. For anyone who wants the raw list rather than a search, the division sells a downloaded list of owners for $4, ordered by letter with an email address for delivery and paid by money order or business check to the Baltimore office.
Buying from the programme, and reporting into it
Property the division cannot return in kind is sold through an online government auction marketplace linked from its own site, which is where safe deposit box contents end up. On the reporting side the deadlines run on two tracks: corporations, public entities, financial institutions and others close their period on June 30 and report and remit by October 31, while all insurance companies close on December 31 and report by April 30.
The reporting guidelines work the dates through with examples, so that a report due by October 31, 2026 covers accounts whose dormancy period ran from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, and a calendar year filer reporting by April 30, 2026 covers dormancy from January 1 to December 31, 2022. Maryland reports and remits together, with payment by wire, ACH direct debit or check, and the guidelines note that the direct debit option has been intermittently unavailable while the agency deploys a new tax processing system, with wire transfer and check available in the meantime.
Safe deposit boxes are reported separately from cash: a preliminary report is uploaded first, the division confirms by email which items it will accept, and only then is a delivery date arranged. Securities eligible for book entry must be delivered through the depository, with an advance list of issue names, CUSIP numbers, share counts and the delivering party sent five business days ahead, and physical certificates are returned if they could have moved electronically.
Two ways for a business to put things right
A holder that has fallen behind has a choice of programmes. The voluntary disclosure agreement lets a business report and pay past due property, but it is open only where the division has not already made contact about that property, and it works by sending a signed agreement which the division reviews, signs and returns, with the report due by the date the agreement sets. The self audit programme is the broader route, under which a holder agrees to review its own books and records under a self audit agreement, reports whatever it finds, and in return reduces the risk of a state audit and of penalties and enforcement action, with the division providing a structured process and guidance on performing due diligence so that owners are notified before their property is reported.
Reading a Maryland result
A record here is held under the name and address the reporting company had, which makes a maiden name, a business name and an old address each worth searching, and the typical value is modest, often under $100, so the reason to claim is that it costs nothing rather than that it will be large. Nothing expires. A postcard from the agency is part of the normal process and can be matched against the sample the division publishes. Once a claim is filed with its documents, the clock to watch is 60 to 90 business days, and the status search answers the question without a telephone call.
Questions about unclaimed property in Maryland
Related Maryland records
Maryland's other public records guides on this site are the Maryland background check guide for the State Police criminal history service, the Maryland court records guide for the judiciary case search, the Maryland arrest records guide for what a booking makes public, and the Maryland county pages for every county office.